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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23447050">Metathesiophobia, or Don't Bottle It Up</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormchasersteve/pseuds/stormchasersteve'>stormchasersteve</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Drabble, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, fear of the future, fear of the unknown, reassurance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:49:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>438</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23447050</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormchasersteve/pseuds/stormchasersteve</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The world is changing too fast for Cassandra.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Metathesiophobia, or Don't Bottle It Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woah_Its_J/gifts">Woah_Its_J</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A birthday gift for the wonderful Bee, in our strange and changing world.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cassandra sat on the battlements, drinking from a bottle of wine.  Her head was rather fuzzy, and she didn't notice Sera until the elf was almost upon her.</p><p>"What you doin' up here?" Sera frowned, seeming utterly put out that the Seeker was not in her familiar spot, eviscerating straw dummies.</p><p>"It appears... that I am <em>drinking</em>," Cassandra replied, her tone laconic.</p><p>"Well, yeah, o' course you're fucking drinking, I can see that.  But there's a perfectly good pub right down there, innit."</p><p>Cassandra sighed and dropped her head back against the crenelations, closing her eyes for a moment.  There was something about Sera's company that made her feel safe to be frank, in a way she could around few others.  "Once this is all over... will things ever be the same again?" she asked, deeply weary.</p><p>"Course not," Sera said, settling down cross legged next to the other woman.  "Loads of shit will change.  But that's good, right?  Because the way things were before was <em>bad</em> a lot of the time."</p><p>The Seeker raised her eyebrows in a silent acknowledgement of Sera's words.  The archer saw things in simplistic, monochrome terms often - but sometimes that was what Cassandra needed.  It was easy to get caught up in complicated ecumenical matters, but what she needed was just to make things simple and clear.</p><p>Taking a gulp of wine, Cassandra offered the bottle to Sera.  "That is true.  But..." she pressed her lips together tightly, and admitted something she'd never voiced before, "To exist in a moment where the whole world is shifting around you, to see that change with you very eyes and not know what your place will be in it when the dust settles, it is... <em>frightening</em>."</p><p>Sera took a long drag from the bottle, winced, and spluttered a little.  "Well... yeah," she agreed, wiping her lips on the back of her sleeve.  "It's scary for everyone.  Won't get any less scary sat on your own like an arse here," she said, standing up with a look of determination.  Holding the bottle out of Cassandra's reach, she offered the woman her other hand.  "<em>Or</em>, you could come be scared with your mates down the pub, and find out they're all scared shitless too.  Then get drunk.  And laugh.  And realise being scared is fuckin' <em>normal</em>."</p><p>Cassandra tilted her head up to look at Sera, and blinked.  That was... all very true, in Sera's inimitable manner.  The corners of the Seeker's lips quirked up in the start of a smile, and she accepted the offered hand.  <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
Nothing <em>would</em> ever be the same - but perhaps that was okay.</p>
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